Know your position
Published 8 September 2026Last updated 8 September 2026Reading time 5 minutes
No. Under section 6 of the Employment Agencies Act 1973, an employment agency must not charge a work-seeker a fee for finding them work. There are narrow exceptions for entertainment and modelling. For every ordinary job in the UK, being asked to pay to be placed is not a grey area or a negotiation. It is prohibited.
This is the fact scammers rely on you not knowing. Many people assume paying a placement fee is normal, or that it might be normal for overseas applicants. It is not, and no contract can make it so.
The prohibition sits in the Employment Agencies Act 1973 and the Conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Businesses Regulations 2003. An agency cannot charge you for finding or seeking to find you work. It does not matter what the payment is called: an administration fee, a processing fee, a placement fee, a registration fee, a documentation fee or a deposit.
You do not need a court to decide this. Nothing needs to be proved about anyone's intentions. The charge is simply not lawful.
Certain entertainment and modelling occupations, such as actors, musicians, models and some sports roles, where an agency may charge in tightly defined circumstances. If you are being recruited as a care worker, a driver, a warehouse operative, a chef, a nurse or an engineer, no exception applies to you.
Separately from the agency rules, Home Office sponsor guidance prohibits an employer from recovering certain sponsorship costs from a sponsored worker. Since 31 December 2024 that covers:
The Home Office will normally revoke the licence of a sponsor that passes these costs to a worker. The rule exists because of documented exploitation, particularly of care workers who arrived carrying large debts taken on to fund their own sponsorship.
| Cost | Who pays it | Can it be charged to you? |
|---|---|---|
| Sponsor licence application | The employer | No. Prohibited since 31 Dec 2024 |
| Assigning your Certificate of Sponsorship | The employer | No. Prohibited since 31 Dec 2024 |
| Immigration Skills Charge | The employer | No. Prohibited since 31 Dec 2024 |
| Recruiter placement or introduction fee | Nobody, from you | No. Prohibited by the 1973 Act |
| Your visa application fee | Usually you | Yes, legitimately yours |
| Immigration Health Surcharge | Usually you | Yes |
| Your travel and relocation | You, unless agreed otherwise | Yes |
You pay the bottom three to the Home Office directly, through official channels. An agency may lawfully charge you for genuinely optional extras such as CV writing, but only if you asked for them, they are clearly separate, and they are not a condition of being put forward for work.
A contract cannot make a prohibited charge lawful. Agreeing to pay does not turn an unlawful fee into a lawful one, and a clause tying your payment to the provision of employment or a Certificate of Sponsorship is not evidence that the arrangement was legitimate. If anything, that wording describes the thing the law prohibits.
The same applies to a document that looks formal, carries a company number, or arrives on headed paper. None of that changes the legal position.
The Fair Work Agency enforces these rules in England, Scotland and Wales. It investigates complaints, issues enforcement undertakings and orders, and can prosecute. In Northern Ireland, complaints go to the Employment Agency Inspectorate.
Email contact@fairworkagency.gov.uk
Phone 0345 161 6000, Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm
The contract, the messages, the amount, the account you paid, dates, and the name or handle the recruiter used.